


Let go

by thepricecaulfield (trininja)



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: AU post-game, Closure, F/F, Feelings, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Bae, Transition
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-04
Updated: 2018-03-04
Packaged: 2019-03-26 22:26:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13867287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trininja/pseuds/thepricecaulfield
Summary: Chloe wakes up. She gets a visit. And is she really awake?





	Let go

**Author's Note:**

> This was my entry for the fanfic contest by pricefield-eternal. I had a good rating and feedback. This is my first fanfic I ever wrote and English is not my main language. :)

Chloe woke up; Joyce called for her from below as usual. She got dressed and went downstairs. When she arrived downstairs, she went into the kitchen, saw her mother and immediately saw the raven in the kitchen. Chloe was back in one of her dreams it seemed; a dream she hadn't had in a long time.  
She turned around and saw her father sitting at the dining table. William smiled. "Well, honey, don't you look surprised to see me again." Chloe stammered a few incomprehensible words and Joyce said “Sit down and eat something, we need to talk.”

Chloe sat down at the table and saw the Belgian waffles as she always liked them. William looked at her “You seem very confused, very sad. But why?” Chloe looked back and forth between her parents. Joyce tilted her head and smiled. She seems different than William, more like a spirit and not part of her subconscious.

Joyce smiled at Chloe who blinked at her. “Yes, I got one last chance to talk to you my dear.”

Chloe started crying. “Mom, I... I don't know how to go on. Without you, without dad, without Rachel. The city is destroyed.” Joyce sighed, came over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. “Darling, do you really think I wanted this?” She sighed. “Of course not, but I'd rather we go through this than having you die.” She frowned. “I couldn't have gone on without you. There's David, but... things were hard.” She smiled, barely. “And now, you have someone who needs you... and you need, too. That's not something you'll find anywhere, Chloe.”

Chloe looked her mother in the face while the tears continued to run down. She saw the grace in her mother, then, and didn't know how to handle it.

“Honey, you haven't lost either of us. We're always going to be in your heart. And we both want you to live. For yourself. For your future and,... for us. And for Max. She needs you, now. She's gone through hell, just for you.” said William, pointing to a picture on the wall that no longer showed Max and Chloe's pirate photo, but Max crying and crouching in front of a grave with Chloe’s name on it, her arms soaked in blood, wrists cut open and a knife laying nearby.

“Max is not doing well because of me...she can’t do this, NO...”

"She sacrificed everything for you, saw for a week how you died, how others died, almost died herself and so much more, just to save you. Not only because of you, for you! She really loves you from the depth of her heart.” Joyce sighed and comforted Chloe’s shoulder. “You will save her, but to do so you need to live.”

Chloe sat there and the tears dried up. She looked at her mother, who kept smiling and comforting her shoulder. “Mom, how can I do all this without you? I've always treated you so badly, but I loved you, I was just angry and I didn't know how to handle it.”

“I know, and I love you more than anything else and I want you to live and always remember the good moments. And they existed again and again. And never forget if I had to decide whether you or me, I would have sacrificed myself. You've got your whole life ahead of you, so much to see, so much to experience. It's unfair, but it's my wish. Please fulfill it for me and  
for yourself.” Joyce embraced her daughter and stroked her through the hair.

William looked at them both and smiled. “Chloe, you want to talk to someone else, and you should. She's waiting for you outside in the garden.” Chloe's eyes widened. She jumped up from the chair and ran to the sliding glass door. Outside, Rachel stood and looked at the sky lost in thought. Chloe tore the door open and ran to Rachel to impetuously hug her.

Rachel returned the hug and laughed softly. Chloe felt that Rachel also was not just animage of her subconscious like William, that she was not a just a dream. Here she really was facing the spirit of her lost friend, like she faced the spirit of her mother before.

“Hella amazing, there you are at last, I thought you wouldn't come.”

“Rachel, why... did you leave me? WHY?” Rachel looked at the floor and then back into Chloe’s face. “Yeah, we have to talk. And you have to listen to me, because it's important to you.”

Rachel leaned against the swing and pointed Chloe to sit on the swing. “Chloe, I owe you an apology. I've always cared about you. We had something special. I loved you at first, we were like fire and gasoline in the beginning. And I've never stopped loving you. But it was a different kind of love. You were a sister to me later, part of myself later.”

“Rachel, I know, but I still loved you above everything and no matter what you did...”

“Stop Chloe. That's just about it. You were too much in love with me. I never meant to hurt you with what I did, so I kept everything a secret from you.”

Chloe looked at Rachel and got angry. “You could have told me everything, I would have understood. I could have protected you.”

“Could you? No, you would have been in danger as well. Hella yes, you died looking for me and if Max wouldn't have been there...”

“I love you, Rachel, but... I also love Max. And I think I can't go on without you. I just don't know how. I mean, my mother is one thing, I think I can go on without her, she wishes, I understand that now. But without you...”

Rachel smiled her typical big smile. “You don't think I want you to move on? I want it just as much as your mother. You're finally ready to go forward, let go. It'll hurt you, but the pain will ease. And you will remember me with a smile.”

“How can I continue? You betrayed me, abandoned me like all the others. But I still love you.”

“Do you think I chose this? I lied to you to protect you from yourself. Just like my father tried to. It hurt me as much as it hurt you. And I didn't choose to leave you because of the circumstances.”

“Rachel. I don't know how. I'm torn between you and Max.”

Rachel sighed and looked Chloe in the eye. “You've always been a little in love with Max since your early youth. You just never could admit it to yourself, but I noticed it and your love for me was just as real, maybe not as strong as it is now for her. And you've rediscovered your love for her. And I want that for you. I had already started to let go, had taken new paths. And I already wished you could let go back then. To have my best friend back, who I can talk to about anything.”

“Is that really your wish? I feel like I'm cheating on you.”

“Really? Or do you just look for a reason to give up because you're afraid it's all getting worse, you're just gonna get hurt and abandoned again, that the pain won’t ease?”

Chloe's eyes widened. Wasn't that actually her real fear? To be abandoned again, to be alone again, hurt again, lose everything finally and the pain never going away? Rachel smiled. “Before you wake up, I'll tell you what Joyce and I want from you.”

Suddenly Joyce was also standing in the garden. “Live, let go of old pain. The two of us love you and wish you to go on and be happy. With Max and the things that will come. And Max will never leave you again. Not after all she's done for you. And she needs you more than you think. And you need her. Be there for her as she will be for you.” Rachel smiled, gave Chloe a hug and a peek on the cheek before everything went black.

  
Chloe woke up and jumped slightly up. Max moved in her arms and asked if everything was okay. “Yes, now everything will be fine I think.” She kissed Max on the forehead and stroked through her hair, thanking her parents and Rachel in her thoughts, Max already sleeping again. She looked up at the stars and smiled. She now understood that it was time to move forward and live again. It wouldn't be easy for both of them. But she wasn't alone, not anymore. And that she would never be again.

**Author's Note:**

> So there we are, I hope you enjoyed this little writing and can forgive my amateur stuff, I'm new to writing in another language. Please leave behind comments if you have something to say, I appreciate it a lot and it will help me to get better for my next fanfics I currently write.
> 
> Your thepricecaulfield


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